DOMESTIKIT: UK

• Facsimile of panel created by Norman Fellows in 1976 (placeholder)

"Housing in the UK has been selected for investigation* since I consider it a critical element of the man-made environment which through prolonged misrepresentation and mis-applied design theory has become probably the least sensitive element of artificial human-conditioning.
[...]
* SHORT LIFE HOUSING STUDY—U.K. Begun January 1967, due to finish 1969."
('Expediency', AD 9/69, p.493)

Item 25773 - A Home Of The Future (1944).png

TRANSCRIPT

• Britain's first factory-made show house.

• Prototype of the half million promised by Mr Churchill as emergency dwellings for demobilised servicemen and their families.

• Bright idea number one is the living room fireplace which also provides heated air for two bedrooms.

• This house of the future has no stairs no dust collecting wainscoting and is intended to last about 10 years.

• Plenty of built-in cupboards are a welcomed feature.

• Married women on the staff of the Ministry of Works helped in the design.

• The kitchen is compact but the initial blueprint didn't provide sufficient facilities for washing clothes - they're going to fix a small copper now in the bathroom.

• The refrigerator tops the list of the £80 worth of internal fittings built into Churchill Villa.

• A hinged breakfast table is a space- saving idea.

• This show house can be seen in Millbank near the Tate Gallery, London - tickets of admission obtainable from your Local Authority.

• Bedroom number two also has plenty of cupboards and like the other rooms is central-heated.

• Housewives will want to know where to hang the washing in wet weather and many may criticise the width of the hall.

• But here's one opinion:—

"I think it is very good indeed for a small house for the men who are coming home and the women who have been working hard in the factories and want to get back to family life. I think it is an ideal house. Of course it is small but the planning is good and the house could easily be worked and would be most economical to run. I consider the kitchen with a built-in refrigerator, and such other useful equipments, a great advance in a working man's home and a step in the right direction."

1 FOREWORD
2 INTRODUCTION
3 1944 Portal Bungalow
4 Arcon
5 References

[edit] FOREWORD

In 1995, Brenda Vale wrote:—

"After the Second World War a new type of state-subsidized house appeared in Britain. The two-bedroom temporary bungalow was produced ostensibly to provide much needed housing in the immediate post-war period and some 156,623 houses were supplied between 1945-1949 as part of the scheme. The bungalows differed from pre-war state-subsidized housing in a number of ways including their method of construction. For the first time in Britain one of the ideals of the Modern Movement was realised: a house was manufactured on a production line in a factory."
(Brenda Vale, 1995, 'A History of the UK Temporary Housing Programme', p.viii)

[edit] INTRODUCTION

In 1995, Brenda Vale also wrote:—

"In comparison with today’s architectural aesthetics the prefab is small, boring and probably unworthy of extensive study. Nor in terms of housing statistics is the impact of the prefab in the post-war world very significant. It is the tenacious nature of the prefab which is the first surprise. Some 156,623 temporary bungalows were produced for rent under the aegis of the 1944 Temporary Housing Programme, each with a design life of 10–15 years, though many have lasted much longer. The last temporary bungalow was handed over in March 1949, so the country should theoretically have been cleared of them by 1964. However, by this date in England and Wales there remained some 67,353 prefabs still in use as temporary accommodation under the arrangements of the Programme, and a further 21,014 which had been purchased by the local authorities and were still occupied. By the middle of 1964, of the original allocation of 124,455 bungalows in England and Wales only 29 per cent, or 36,088 had been removed. By the end of the period 1945–1966, in Scotland of the 32,176 bungalows completed 13,585 were still in occupation under the Programme, 671 had been transferred to the local authorities, and 56 per cent, or 17,920, had been removed. By the end of 1971, in Scotland the remaining bungalows, some 3,505 or 11 per cent of the original allocation were no longer considered temporary dwellings and were treated as permanent houses for statistical purposes.
The prefab, however, was not one design, but rather a series of different methods of framing and cladding a basic set of accommodation stemming from a prototype by the Ministry of Works (commonly called the Portal Bungalow after the Minister, Lord Portal)."
(Brenda Vale, 1995, 'A History of the UK Temporary Housing Programme', p.1)

[edit] 1944 Portal Bungalow

According to Brenda Vale:—

"This prototype was an all steel product and incorporated a combined prefabricated kitchen and bathroom unit, also the brainchild of the Ministry of Works. From the beginning of May 1944 the Portal Bungalow was on exhibition daily, except for Sundays, at the Tate Gallery. Tickets were necessary for admission. These were issued initially to local authorities for further allocation. Provision was also made for a similar exhibition in Scotland. From the start the prototype was seen as experimental, and comments were invited from the world at large as to any improvements and modifications that might be thought necessary. The Portal bungalow was designed to be exposed to public gaze:
[...]
The Portal prototype was never put into production although a revised version was again exhibited in London in the autumn of 1944. However, a number of manufacturers were asked to supply bungalows based upon the prototype."
(ib., pp.1-2)

Learn More (dimensions of rooms)

• Screenshot - Source: Pathe newsreel

Item 25772 - Portal prefab Tate 1944.png

• The original Portal prototype with a central entry door at the Tate exhibition in 1944. Source: Prefab Museum, PRM.00161

Item 25769 - Portal House. Exhibition, Tate Gallery 1944.jpg

• Interior, Portal prefabricated bungalow - Source: Prefab Museum, PRM.00161.01

• Rear elevation - Source: RIBA 38747

• {...}

Item 25775 - Built-in closets in the Portal prototype.png

• Screenshot - Source: Pathe newsreel

Item 25768 - Exterior view of a Portal House, 5-9-1944.jpg

• The second Portal prototype with a side entry door, May 1944. Source: Airfield Research Group via Prefab Museum, PRM.00102.11

• Elevations and sectional drawings of an unnamed prefab (possibly Portal House). Source: Chiltern Open Air Museum archive via Prefab Museum, PRM.00150.01

Item 25771 - Floor plan of the Portal house.jpg

• Floor plan, possibly for the second Portal prototype with a side entry door.

• [...]

[edit] Arcon

According to Brenda Vale:—

Ultimately, the most sophisticated arrangement of the standard two bed-room accommodation was probably that of the Arcon Mark V bungalow (figure 1.1). The two-bedroom Arcon had all rooms, apart from the kitchen, leading off a hall which contained the WC and a built-in meter and coat cupboard. The airing cupboard, which was part of the prefabricated bathroom/kitchen unit, also gave into the hall. Partitions between the living room and bedroom 1 and bedroom 2 and the hall were partly composed of cupboard units. The kitchen, apart from its cooker, sink etc, which were combined with the bathroom plumbing and wiring, also contained a larder with ventilation direct to the outside, and a folding table. A separate shed was to be provided in the garden space for the storage of bicycles and tools. All the bungalows were variations of similar accommodation. A complete Arcon Mark V exists at the Avoncroft Museum of Building at Bromsgrove, (figure 1.3) but the bungalow has survived in use well beyond its design life as is evidenced by the large estate of Arcons that still exists at Newport, Gwent (figure 1.2). Other Arcons can also be seen recycled for a variety of purposes. The corrugated asbestos cladding and curved ridge at the gable ends gave the bungalow a distinctive outline that made it the typical prefab in many eyes (figure 1.3). The Arcon group included a firm of architects, a group of industrialists and a building contractor.12 From the beginning the architects of the group were interested in houses: In April, 1943, Arcon formed the opinion that a minimum-area demountable house, susceptible to mass production, would be required in order to take the ‘razor edge’ off immediate post-war demand. The work of developing such a house fell clearly into two sections: the structure or covered space; the service or mechanical core.
(ib., pp.2-7)